1:72 Avro Lancaster B.I/III 3D Full colour Instrument Panels (for Airfix Kits)

The Lancaster pilot's station for Airfix

The Lancaster carried the night raids of RAF Bomber Command on its shoulders for longer and in greater numbers than any other type. Its bomb bay was unusually long and uninterrupted, thanks to which it could lift even the largest bombs used in the Second World War. The B.I and B.III forms differed practically not at all on the outside: the difference lay in the origin of the engines, because the Mk.III received license-built powerplants from American production.

The cockpit of a heavy bomber is roomy compared with a fighter and there are far more instruments in it. The set covers the pilot's main panel as well as the supplementary panels found in the cockpit space, and delivers them all finished, including the dial faces, the labels and the colored warning lights. The print is layered, so the individual dials stand above the base.

Before gluing, the panel is freed of its molded relief and painted a dark color. The print is released in lukewarm water, transferred with tweezers and fine-tuned with a soft brush. The dimensions come from the kit that Airfix offers in this scale.

Anyone building a Lancaster with the pilot's station uncovered gains detail this way that would otherwise call for photo-etched parts and hours of work with a brush on tiny dials. The layered print does not increase the thickness of the panel enough to prevent the glazing seating, so the cockpit closes without trouble once finished. The difference is best seen from above through the extensive glazing of the nose.

In the envelope there is only the printed sheet for the cockpit, without plastic parts.